Top players from the Anaheim Ducks and Northern California High School hockey leagues will combine to form an all-star team to compete at the 2015 Annual America’s Showcase National Tournament, the California Amateur Hockey Association announced. The tournament, scheduled for April 9-13 at the Robert Morris University Island Sports

For the past three years, Denis Nguyen has done his best to avoid looking at the large banner hanging at one end of Harvard University’s tennis practice facility, the Murr Center. On it is listed every All-American in the program’s history. “I’ll never get that,” Nguyen, 21, would tell himself. &ldquo

Cal State Fullerton baseball coach Rick Vanderhook has been placed on paid administrative leave, the school said Thursday in a news release.
“The University has received allegations that it is obligated to review,” the release said.
A phone call to Vanderhook seeking comment was not returned.
Assistant coaches

Robin Preston raised two dyed-in-the-wool athletic sons. Ryan and Jeffrey Preston both grew up to be hard-core basketball enthusiasts who wore down the backyard basketball hoop. Ryan, who is five years older, played National Junior Basketball locally. He would go on to play basketball for Sunny Hills High School. Jeffr

For the past two seasons, Hope Moreno has dealt with the frustration of being ousted in the semifinals of the CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs.
She’d prefer to avoid a third straight exit this year.
For Moreno, a returning senior and team captain, this 2014 season is the culmination of an impressive high school career played for

Brent Lavoie coaches baseball in a vastly different generation than the one in which he played.
No longer do high school ballplayers follow instructions blindly and without question. Kids are more curious than ever, and coaches are adapting their approaches accordingly.
Lavoie, 33, calls it the “Why?” generation, and

Talk to enough baseball coaches this time of year, you’re sure to hear ad nauseum that the route to success is paved by hard work.
Conrad Colby is aware of this, and understands his Kennedy High baseball team is no different than the hundreds in Orange County that claims to work hard.
There is, however, a catch.

Chapman University junior Kirsten Spicer was born with water in her veins.
Her father, Mike Spicer, was an outstanding water polo player at Sunny Hills High and four-time All-American at USC. Her mother, Karin Spicer, who also attended USC, was just as magnificent a swimmer.
Kirsten Spicer, 20, resisted aquatics at first. Swimmin

Lindsey Rains will soon break up with her “boyfriend” of 17-plus years. It’ll be an amicable split, rest assured, but a painful one at that.
She is sad and nostalgic and optimistic and excited all at once; a gamut of emotions only Rains can properly explain.
“Throughout my life, my family has always called

Charles “Bubby” Rossman excelled at football, soccer and baseball at La Habra High.
As a senior, he talked to local college coaches from all three sports. The summer he graduated, Rossman weighed his options and considered playing two sports in college.
He then made the decision to play baseball exclusively – a

New Orleans served as the center of the basketball universe this past weekend as athletes and celebrities alike gathered for the NBA's All-Star Weekend.
Highlighted by the Slam Dunk Contest and the All-Star Game itself, there were a number of individuals who left the Big Easy as the weekend's clear-cut winners.
Wizards guard John

Some puzzles are easier to solve than others.
Last season Troy High girls water polo won the Division 4 CIF-SS championship, but graduated four of its seven starters.
The remaining three – Shannon Grossman, Jessica Harris and Minna Mattis – wondered how the team would be able to repeat such a successful season with an

Stephen Teal had just begun teaching at Brea Olinda in 1998 when he was approached about coaching the freshman boys soccer team. That season – his first ever coaching soccer– the Wildcats managed just two wins.
“(After the season) I told them, ‘Hey thanks for the opportunity but coaching wasn’t really my thi

At first glance, Matt Hall does not look like your prototypical linebacker.
He's tall and lean; clean-cut if you will.
The neat gelled hair that accompanies the varsity letterman screams quarterback more than anything else.
“He's an easygoing, fun, have-a-good-time type of guy,” said Fullerton co-coach Gus Mar

The question had to be asked. Do they always finish each others’ sentences?
“Yes,” said Gabbi and Maddi Garcia in unison, before bursting into yet another fit of giggles.
The two are as close as sisters get – often mistaken for twins – who seem to spend as much time laughing with each other as they d